The 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs continue on Friday night and we will see the Atlanta Hawks take on the Washington Wizards in game 6 of their series, which will take place at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The game has a start time of 7:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Current Vegas betting odds have the Wizards listed as 3 point favorites, while the total is set at 197.
Analysis: The Atlanta Hawks came into the playoffs as the top seed in the East and after a thrilling late comeback s the wizard they are just one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in their history. Washington led the game for much of the 2nd half, but a basket by Al Horford with 1.9 seconds to go gave the Hawks a 3-2 lead in the series. Atlanta has gone 27-19 on the road this year, but they are just 2-3 on the road in the playoffs so far. The Hawks scored 101.7 ppg on 45.6% shooting overall and 37.5% shooting from long range on the road this year. Defensively they allowed 99.4 ppg on 44.0% shooting overall and 35.4% shooting from long range away from home this year.
The Washington Wizards upset the Raptors in round 1 of the playoffs and were picked by many to upset the Hawks in round 2. They thought they would be without John Wall for longer, but he made his return on Wednesday night and nearly led them to another road win over the Hawks. Still with Wall back and a game under his belt the Wizards still have a very good shot at reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. The Wizards have scored 102.9 ppg on 47.3% shooting overall and 39.3% from long range at home for the year. Defensively they have been solid at home allowing 96.6 pg on 44.1% shooting overall and 32.4% shooting from long range.
Pick: This series hasn't had as much defense as I thought it would, but in the last game it did and the deeper when get into this series the more defense I expect. For the year the Wizards have really played great defense at home, where they have allowed just 96.6 ppg on the year, while the Hawks defense has been solid overall and should be able to keep this banged up Washington team from scoring too much here. This is a very important game 6 and I expect both teams to bring it defensively, which should keep the scoring in the 180s.
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Memphis is Toast Against Golden State--Buy/Sell?
The NBA Playoffs series between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors is tied 2-2, but professional sports handicapper Steve Fezzik says the Grizzlies have as much chance of winning this series as a lawyer does getting out of John Grisham's The Firm. The Warriors are the team to beat in the West and Fezzik compares this series to having a bye into the semifinals, predicting the series won't go past Game 6, even with Grizzlies like Mike Conley putting forth their best effort.